


The Haunting of Riverdale

by CWMaddy



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Dark, Gen, Ghosts, One Shot Collection, Suicide, Supernatural Creatures, oujia boards, vampires and werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-09-28 13:21:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10102604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CWMaddy/pseuds/CWMaddy
Summary: Somewhere, far away from the place you call home, lies a small town draped in the shadows of secrets and terror.This town feeds off of the darkness that lies within the souls of its citizens.This town is called Riverdale. And it just can't wait to meet you.A series of scary, dark and twisted one shots centered around the CW's Riverdale.





	1. Cheryl's Secret

**Author's Note:**

> Now, I know what you're thinking. What's this? _Another_ multi-chaptered fanfiction? But Maddy, you couldn't possibly! Not with all the others you already have!
> 
> To which I say: You are 100% right my friend. But fuck logic and reasoning I AM WRITING MORE FICS! Enjoy.

Cheryl didn't believe in ghosts. Up until July 4th, she never would. 

The days following would forever remain as the worst days of her life. 

Riverdale was a town of secrets. This was a fact that everyone had come to terms with. The worst secret, though, was held by the Blossom family.

As far as anyone knew, Jason drowned on the morning of July 4th, and his body was never found. 

Cheryl wished this were the truth. But she was unable to deny the desperate banging that came from inside a locked room. She couldn't pretend not to hear the muffled screams of her brother – trapped inside his own tomb. 

Now, even months later, she swears she can still hear Jason tearfully calling out her name, begging for help using the last remaining minutes of oxygen he has left. 

She knows what his last words were, just as much as she knows that she should've done something to save him. 

She also knows that fear of her parents was what stopped her from acting. 

Three days after Jason's supposed drowning, the Blossoms buried a not-so-empty casket. Inside was Jason's stone cold body, his fingers bloody from trying to claw his way out. But no one would ever know.

Only Cheryl still thought about it. She looked through family albums and her mascara leaked as she recalled how she and her brother had been apprehended at Sweetwater river by their furious parents. How they'd dragged their brother off and forced her to pretend that he'd tipped their boat. 

Even now, Jason still lingered, she could sense his presence by her side at all times. She wondered if he'd ever forgive her for what she'd let happen to him. But she didn't see why he would.

To all of the town, Cheryl Blossom was a spoiled, pristine princess who was mean simply because she damn well could be. 

Truly though, she was just a girl. One forced to carry with her the dangerous secrets of her family, all the while forever trapped within the haunted walls of a prison she called home.


	2. The Summoning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl goes to extremes in order to find out the truth about her brother's murder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Takes place during episode 5, during Cheryl's and Veronica's sleepover.

"Cheryl?" Veronica whispers, stumbling backwards as a stray branch nearly smacks her in the face. 

She walks slowly, unsure of what's to come, for the moon is a crescent and the woods around her are almost pitch black. She just prays that she'll hear the river's stream before she falls straight into it. 

"Cheryl!" Veronica calls again, louder this time. Still, no answer.

For some reason, Veronica keeps moving. She lost sight of Cheryl a few minutes back, apparently she wasn't moving fast enough to keep up with the Blossom girl. 

"Come to my house for a sleepover, she said. It'll be fun, she said!" 

"Would you stop whining?" A voice suddenly snaps, startling Veronica and causing her to shout in surprise. 

She's momentarily blinded by a flashlight, and Veronica soon realizes that it's only the exact person she was looking for. Her heartbeat slows somewhat, and she exhales in relief. 

"Jesus, you almost scared me to death," she breathes, and regrets her choice of words immediately when Cheryl's frown deepens.

Not the right thing to say the night before Jason Blossom's funeral, probably. 

"I'm sorry, that came out wrong," Veronica apologizes sincerely. 

"Whatever," Cheryl replies, hiking an over-sized purse higher up onto her shoulder. "Let's get moving. We're almost to the river's edge." 

Cheryl begins moving again, and Veronica somehow manages to keep up. They're both dressed quite casually compared to their usual styles, wearing simple jeans and blouses. Veronica hadn't thought that Cheryl could even own something so simple.

She also didn't know why they were both at Sweetwater River at midnight, with nothing to defend themselves from possible danger. No one even knew they were there, Cheryl had made the two of them sneak out of her bedroom window. Cheryl had driven them all the way here, but left the car about half a mile back.

Veronica didn't have cell signal all the way out here, and even if she did it wouldn't mean much because her phone was at a meager 23% and dropping. 

"Where are we going?" Veronica asks for what seems like the hundredth time, by now not expecting an answer. 

"We're here," Cheryl says in way of a reply, pushing away the last few tree branches that obscure their view of their location. 

Veronica gets a glimpse of yellow tape reflecting Cheryl's flashlight, and she freezes. 

"No. Absolutely not. Cheryl!" Veronica chides the ginger. "We are not snooping around your brother's crime scene!" Her eyes are darting around cautiously, as if expecting a cop to show up and arrest them for tampering with evidence. 

"Who said we were snooping? I like to think of it as a scavenger hunt," Cheryl tells Veronica. She ducks underneath the yellow tape that reads _CAUTION. DO NOT CROSS._ and then stops, looking back at Veronica expectantly. 

Veronica sighs, and stomps her feet a few times like a petulant child before following. 

The two girls stop walking a few feet away from where the river water creeps up onto the shore. Cheryl opens up her mysterious bag, and pulls out several things. First, a picnic blanket, which she lays out before her and then sits down on. Then, three large vanilla-scented candles, which she lights with a scarlet red lighter after placing them in a semi-circle. 

Veronica briefly wonders if Cheryl smokes, but she dismisses the thought almost immediately. Cheryl wouldn't dare, not with being captain of the River Vixens. 

Finally, Cheryl removes the last item and lies it inside the semi-circle of candles. A Oujia board. 

"Oh God. Are you being serious right now?!" Veronica cries, running her slim fingers through her dark hair. She surmises that Cheryl has truly lost her mind at this point. 

"Yes, Ronnie. I _am_ serious," Cheryl says, looking at Veronica stoically. The yellow candlelight casts eerie shadows across her porcelain skin and sharp features. The flame glints evilly in her pupils. 

"You're actually going to summon your dead brother? You realize this stuff doesn't even work, right? They sell these at toy stores!" 

Cheryl looks distraught. "It's my last resort! There was no evidence that pointed to who JJ's killer might have been. None! Someone hurt him, and they're strolling around this town with more confidence than Tyra on America's Next Top Model!" 

Cheryl sniffles, and the burning candle light swims in the tears that have started to build in her eyes. She takes a breath before continuing. "His autopsy was a bust. Science failed me. It's time to turn to the dead for help." 

Veronica just shakes her head slowly, barely believing what she was hearing, but she doesn't say anything while Cheryl sets up the board. 

Cheryl lightly places two fingers on the planchette, then extends her other hand out to Veronica. The other girl does the same with two of her fingers, and then joins her other hand with Cheryl's. 

Cheryl circles the word _Oujia_ that's in the center of the board twice, then stops moving the wooden piece. "Spirits, we ask for your help, and with us we bring our utmost respect for those that have passed into the other realm," Cheryl states confidently, as if she's done this before or, at the very least, rehearsed what she wanted to say. 

Just how long has she been planning to do this? 

"Is there anybody out there who can help us with our journey?" 

For a few tense seconds, nothing happens. Then, the planchette starts crawling slowly, ever so slowly, to the word _Yes._

Panic rises up into Veronica's throat, and her first instinct is to pull her hand off the board. But she's too afraid of the consequences. After all, that's how people get possessed isn't it? 

"We come seeking answers to our questions about the unsolved murder of my brother, Jason Blossom. Do you know anything about it?" 

The planchette swiftly moves away from its previous resting spot, and then circles back again to _Yes._

Veronica's breath catches. She's starting to tremble now, and it's not even been 5 minutes. 

"Do you know who killed my brother?" 

_Yes._

"Were you–were you there when he died?" Veronica stammers, mentally kicking herself for asking such a stupid question. 

But to her surprise, the planchette once again moves to _Yes._ She wonders if that's the only word this particular ghost knows. 

Cheryl's composure is momentarily lost, and she whispers hopefully, "JJ? Is that you?" 

The following pause lasts almost a full minute before the game piece moves once more. 

_No._

The river seems to drop several degrees then, and Veronica can't repress a full body shiver. 

"Cheryl, I think we should go," Veronica tells her friend, unable to hide the quiver in her voice.

"No! Not until I get some answers!" Cheryl exclaims, fingers pressing down on the planchette with so much intensity that the wood creaks. 

"Who killed my brother?" She demands. 

The spirit doesn't seem to like her tone, though.

_L-E-A-V-E_ It spells out slowly, but their hands are still moved forcefully with the action.

"Leave? No way! Tell me what you know!" Cheryl shouts, tears beginning to leak down her face and onto the board. One tear makes contact with a flame from one of the candles, and it burns away into steam with an audible hiss. 

That's when the whispering starts. It was everywhere, and although loud, the words are incoherent. Veronica's heart pounds in her chest, and she looks around for the source of the voices. She finds none.

The candlelight starts to flicker furiously, but there is no breeze. At this point Veronica was crying too, but for a different reason than Cheryl. 

"I need to know! Tell me, now!" Says Cheryl, her voice becoming hysterical.

The planchette flies out from under the teens' fingers, and off the Oujia board itself. It plants itself into the wet dirt, right next to a yellow card reading the number one. Right where Jason's body was found. 

Then, it catches fire. 

The girls scream, and before she even realizes, Veronica is up and hauling Cheryl under the yellow crime scene tape and away from their spot.

"Cheryl we have to go, now!" She shouts, tugging the sobbing girl along. 

The whispers continue, and the fire grows, soon enough swallowing up the whole blocked off area. 

But the girls are already too far away to watch it all burn.


	3. Broken Glass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheryl and Jason Blossom have been inseparable since birth, whether it be by choice or otherwise.

She feels him, standing by her side when she has to talk at his funeral. 

She feels him, giving his support as she offers to help Polly protect her and Jason's unborn child. 

But she never truly sees him until she looks in the mirror one evening, after a particularly terrible day at school full of judging and hateful stares from everyone in the student body, and after a chaotic dinner during which her mother scolded her for talking to the sheriff about Jason's ongoing homicide case. 

She sees him, sees Jason, standing before her through the reflection of her own self. He's desperately pale, eyes glossy and distant, his beautiful smile nowhere to be found. He looks sad, lost, trapped within the confines of the glass surface. 

Cheryl wonders if he's only with her because he can't go anywhere else. She asks herself if she's the one holding him back, keeping him from the rest he so craves. The answer comes to her just as suddenly.

She knows he deserves peace, deserves to be rid of this god forsaken town and all its horrors, but something inside of her doesn't want him to be free. She wants him to stay here, with her, forever by her side like he was meant to. 

They came into this world together, and she intends to leave that way all the same. 

Every mirror in the Blossom home was covered at Jason's funeral. The family believed in an old superstition that leaving the mirrors open to the naked eye during the burial would prevent the parting spirit from reaching Heaven, from eternal rest. So they hid the mirrors away with black silk. 

All except one. Cheryl's bedroom mirror. 

It took weeks for Jason's spirit to appear before her, but here he finally was. And as she stares at him, blackened tears dripping down her face from her mascara, she notices that there's no bullet hole in his head. His face is no longer marred by the injury that led to his demise.

Despite this, however, her twin still looked to be plagued with agony and turmoil. He was suffering from within, invisible to the people looking from the outside. 

They lock eyes, shining orbs meeting cloudy ones, and something in the room shifts. An evil aura drapes itself over Cheryl like a thick, suffocating blanket; unpleasant and angry. 

Jason's frown deepens, and Cheryl realizes why. He's upset with her, with what she did. But her guilt is overshadowed by the need to stay by her twin however possible, and she smiles back at him. After all, she loved her brother more than anything else in this world.

Cheryl didn't kill her brother. She had no idea who took him from her. 

But she knew that no matter what, she had to do whatever necessary to keep him from leaving her for good.

For a few moments, the twins look at each other through the window between two dimensions. There's nothing to be said, and even less to be done. 

Then, slowly, Jason smiles back at Cheryl. She knows then that Jason could never stay mad at her. He loved her just as much as she did him. The two of them were forged together as one, a single soul into two beings. 

A crackling sound startles Cheryl from her musings, and she watches with growing terror as Jason slams his hands against the mirror. He never breaks eye contact with his sister. 

Before she can act, the mirror shatters into hundreds of glass shards. 

Cheryl's screams can be heard for miles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that all of these are centered around Jason and Cheryl, it's just that the creepy ideas that always come to me are about Jason and how his death affects the town. Don't worry though, a chapter that focuses more on the other characters is coming soon!


	4. Final Destination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody has to die someday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warningns: Suicide, blood, graphic depictions of violence
> 
> Should I up the rating to mature?

**July 4, 2016**

The sun is a lot easier to look at when you're under water. 

But the sky is also a lot harder to reach when you're sucking freezing cold water into your lungs. 

Why is the river so _cold_? It's July! 

Where was Cheryl? How had he missed her glove so spectacularly to have tipped the boat? 

Jason wasn't sure why his head wasn't breaking the surface, it was right there after all. So what was keeping him under? 

He never did find out. 

 

**August 21, 2016**

The only thing Veronica was looking forward to in Riverdale was a new start. 

A new town meant a new life, and a new life meant a new her. She had a chance to better herself here, and she was going to do just that. 

Her dad's arrest brought with it a realization that felt almost exactly like a face full of ice water. She needed change. A big one.

And change is what she would get. Just, not in the way she'd hoped.

Veronica had failed her driver's license test, but even _she_ knew that driving down a pitch black road in an unfamiliar territory was a no go. Her driver though, well, he wasn't as aware of this fact. 

This, ultimately, was what led to the Lodge women's demise. 

The town was unfamiliar; intimidating. Darkness was worse when you didn't know what could be out there, lurking. Anything could be looking in, and for all Veronica knew, she was looking right back at it. 

But she knows for damn sure that the truck wasn't looking at them when it came barreling down the path right towards them. 

And she knows that they'd never had a chance. 

Veronica died wondering if maybe change wasn't so good of an idea after all. 

 

**September 14, 2016**

In his eyes, Death was a living thing. Ironically, Archie thought of Death as a breathing entity, draped in darkness. It was twisted, and withered, and creaked with every movement. From afar, one might never see it coming. 

But up close, you'd be able to feel it reaching for you. It'd wrap its blood stained fingers around your throat, and squeeze tightly right up until you were standing at Death's doorstep. 

Death was always welcoming new guests into its home.

These were the thoughts that Archie was plagued with on a cool Wednesday afternoon, brought on by the sudden series of deaths going on lately. Not even the construction going on around him could block them out.

It probably should have though. Maybe then Archie would've been able to hear Death's footsteps dragging in the dirt behind him.

He ended up walking right into his own grave. 

Lying there, disoriented and body aching, Archie realized that he probably should've gone around the site instead of cutting through to get to his dad's office.

Too late now, though. The loader was already upon him. 

His last minutes of oxygen were spent mulling over why he'd thought the taste of dirt was ever appetizing as a child.

 

**October 31, 2016**

The bright side of this Halloween was that no one could TP his house this year.

The down side was that Archie wasn't there to spend it with him. 

No one knew where he was. He'd just.... disappeared one day. 

Like Jason Blossom.

Jughead surmised that it must be a redhead thing. 

Either way, Jughead was bored now. And he was upset that Archie hadn't said anything before he'd left. It was just so unlike the boy to leave without a word to anybody. To leave at all. And that was what made Jughead suspicious.

So he took his sleuthing skills to the streets of the town. If the police couldn't find any leads, then Jughead Jones III was just going to have to find some himself.

Unfortunately for him, something found him first. And they certainly weren't clues.

He'd been investigating the 7/11 that he and Archie had hung around Freshman year after school, when an all too familiar snicker came from behind him.

"Look what we have here, boys?" Reggie chortled to his football buddies. They laughed too, which was stupid in Jughead's opinion because Reggie hadn't even cracked a joke. 

He'd probably soon be cracking Jughead's bones instead, come to think of it. 

They were all dressed as skeletons for the spooky holiday, and Jughead had this dreadful intuition of what was about to go down. It was all too similar to a certain classic movie about martial arts.

This time, though, there would be no Mr. Miyagi coming to his rescue.

The whole gang was here for the show: Reggie, Chuck, Moose, even that weird blonde kid who was way too scrawny to be on the football team had come to get in on the all you can beat buffet. 

"Don't you have candy to steal from some poor little 10 year olds, Reggie?" Jughead sighed, crossing his arms and leaning against the side of the store in a way to present nonchalance.

"Well, yeah, but.... we have business to attend to first." Reggie slowly started walking closer to Jughead, and his friends followed, officially closing up any space Jug might've had to make a run for it. 

Not that he'd have been able to outrun the football team anyway, though. 

"Archie's been away a long while, you see," Chuck began, clasping and unclasping his hands. "Rumor has it something real bad happened to him." 

"Have your tiny brains come up with the ability to have an idea?" Jughead rasped, his mouth going dry. 

"Oh," Reggie was only a few feet from him now. "We have our suspicions."

Those suspicions didn't have to be spoken aloud. 

Shockingly, Jughead laughed. But it was lacking all humor. Did these idiots genuinely think that Jughead had killed his best friend, of all people? 

"Hey man what the hell are you laughing at, huh?" Reggie snapped, shoving Jughead hard in the chest. 

It didn't do much, for Jughead was already as far back as he could be. This didn't deter Reggie though, as he just grabbed Jug's shirt collar and shoved him to the ground instead.

Leaping on top of the teen, Reggie forces Jughead to look at him as the others hold down his limbs. 

Reggie is staring intently at him, eyes shimmering with malice and rage. "Tell me, do you have a thing for killing gingers or something? Cuz I don't know 'bout you, but it seems to me that they're all disappearing lately!"

"And how has that got anything to do with me, Mantle?!" Jughead spits. 

"Oh come on! You're the only one here who would kill someone!" Moose crowed. Jughead wasn't so sure that his comment was accurate.

"Why'd you kill them? Why?!" Reggie slams his head on the concrete below, and Jughead groans at the dizzy whirlpool that his sight has just been thrown into. 

"Just tell us what we wanna know, man. Nobody's got to get hurt, here," Chuck tries to bargain, but it's useless. There's nothing that Jughead can say that they want to hear.

So he just seals his lips tight, and hopes the beating will be over soon. Maybe he'll even pass out midway through. 

Reggie, expectedly, lands the first punch to his face. There's a cracking noise that fills the air, and the whole world seems to freeze in that moment. Reggie's hit Jughead before, but he's never broken anything.

Everyone stares, breathing shallowly in the dark chill of the night, seemingly unsure of what to do next.

It's Chuck that breaks the silence. "No one gets away with taking one of our own!" He growls, standing up only to send a rough kick to Jughead's side.

The blows start coming all at once then, everyone with renewed strength. 

He tastes blood on his tongue, but isn't sure if it's from biting his lips so as to not scream, or from another punch. His breathing by now is coming out raggedly, and he wheezes as one of the guys land three consecutive kicks to his stomach.

His vow of silence is broken when one of them, he thinks it's Moose, brings his foot down on his left knee, and Jughead suddenly becomes vividly aware of how it feels to be a tree splintered down the middle.

He screams, then. He screams and screams and screams until his voice cracks, and he's burning up inside but he's still so _cold_. He's too weak to struggle, can't even think about getting up now or ever again.

Reggie backs off immediately, and his friends follow suit. Jughead's screaming seems to knock reality back into them; make them understand what really just happened. 

"Yo, we have to leave. Now." Jughead hears one of them say, but his ears are stuffed with cotton.

"What, do we just leave him here?" Another asks, sounding unsure. 

There's a quick argument Jughead knows, but he misses it because his consciousness is fading in and out. 

Then he hears sirens. Then he hears fast footsteps getting farther away. 

And then he hears nothing, because at that moment, Jughead Jones III is incidentally nothing as well.

 

 **November 24, 2016**

"Smile, Elizabeth. I spent hours preparing tonight's meal." 

Betty did as her mother said, but it was small and unconvincing. It was hard to be thankful for what she had tonight when all she could think about is what she'd lost. 

It was a very quiet dinner. They said their prayers, they complimented the food. Nothing else seemed right, nothing else seemed true.

Betty couldn't be thankful for a family that wasn't even complete. Polly wasn't here, she was somewhere in a hospital because of her breakdown after Jason's death.

She couldn't exactly be thankful for her friends, for she only had one left. For now.

Her throat felt clogged suddenly, but not because of the food she was eating. No, it was the grief that she was choking on.

It wasn't a feeling that she'd like to repeat anytime soon. 

So when her parents went out Black Friday shopping, she stayed home and made the sadness go away.

Gasoline replaced her tears.

Numbness replaced her nerves. 

And then, the flames replaced it all. 

Betty didn't like the feeling of grief sticking in her throat. So she choked on smoke that night instead. 

 

**December 24, 2016**

She'd tried. Honest. But it was just so damned hard without Jason here. 

Without him, she had no one to hold her when she cried. She had no one to care for her on the nights when her parents pinned all the blame on her. 

Cheryl had no one to talk her through it, or at the very least, to listen. Tina and Ginger most certainly weren't going to. 

They pretended a lot, she could tell when their expressions were fake because Tina's right eye twitched four times in a row. 

Jason was her only friend. He was her guardian, her beacon of hope. She clung to him because he was the only person she could really trust, and now he was gone too.

Her parents said it was her fault, if she hadn't been so stupid as to lose her glove that morning, then Jason would still be alive. They wouldn't have had to burry any casket at all, much less an empty one. 

She knew that some people didn't believe that her brother was even dead, but they were wrong. She watched it happen, watched until she lost sight completely of the only person she had ever loved.

If Cheryl still believed in Santa, she would have thought that tomorrow morning she'd be waking up to a stocking full of coal.

Who knew, maybe her parents would be so cruel as to make it happen anyway.

Not like she'd be waking up tomorrow morning to see it, though. 

Staring at her reflection in her bathroom mirror, she sneered. The fluorescent lights did nothing to hide the deep rings under her eyes, eyes that were red rimmed and bloodshot from an endless stream of tears. 

There was a party going on downstairs, the annual Blossom Christmas Eve Extravaganza. She'd never liked the event, but Jason was always there to make it more enjoyable. 

Except now, he couldn't be. 

Cheryl's eyes trailed down the reflection of her slimming red party dress, and went back up to her tightly wrapped bun. 

Red was the color that described her. Red hair, red lips, red eyes, red dress. Red fingernails that were attached to her pale hands, hands that were tightly gripping the shiny blade she'd taken out of her razor.

Her parents hadn't called her downstairs yet, probably because they forgot about her or they knew she was having another fit. 

No one cared about Cheryl like Jason had. No one would miss her like they missed him. She knew that.

The River Vixens were just going to have to find a new captain. The Bulldogs sucked without Jason in the game anyway. 

Cheryl's face crumpled, and she watched in the mirror as her weapon sliced through the skin of her exposed throat. 

After that, the only red thing that mattered was her blood.

 

The deaths didn't stop there. The people of Riverdale weren't sure that they ever would. Anyone could be next, and there'd be nothing anyone could do to stop it. There was something in the town that was evil, and it was starving. And it fed on the suffering of the town's inhabitants. 

Parents were most worried for their children, for that seemed to be where the losses happened most often. But no one could protect their loved ones against this death curse.

Kevin Keller was shot in a hit and run on Valentine's Day.

Josie and the Pussycats ran off the road on a particularly rainy day during spring break.

And they just kept coming after that. 

Riverdale was gaining quite the menacing reputation. The town with pep was now a town of great sadness, felt by anyone who stepped foot in its borders. 

Riverdale was a disease. Every day the people breathed its air, or drank its water, the infection seeped deeper into their skin, crawled through their veins, and invaded their lungs. And one day, they were all going to choke on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so you all know, a loader is that big ass machine that carries dirt in construction.
> 
> Also, yay a new chapter that _isn't_ , for once, centered only around the Blossoms! It's a miracle! The next chapter coming your way should actually be centered around your girl Veronica. So stay tuned for that!


	5. Not Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's something off about Riverdale. And the new girl in town, Veronica, is going to find out what it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the worst thing I've ever written. It's so poorly done. I'm sorry.

The first time in a hundred years that Riverdale has someone new step foot in its borders is in late 2016.

Valerie Brown, in all her psychic glory, predicts raven hair and shiny white pearls. But even she can't see the beating heart and the warm, lively skin.

Betty Cooper catches the new girl's scent the second she steps into Pop Tate's, and it doesn't take long before the whole town knows the truth. 

There's a human in Riverdale. 

 

Veronica Lodge knows that something feels different in Riverdale. Her mother won't tell her much, just that she shouldn't stay out too late into the night, and some nights she can't leave the house at all. She wouldn't go into detail.

The first two people she meets are Betty Cooper and Archie Andrews. 

Archie's fiery red hair sticks out immensely from his stark white skin, and his smile is kind. But there's an agenda behind it. Betty is blonde and lean, but there's obvious muscle under her sleeves. 

Archie's gaze is soft and somewhat longing, while Betty's looks sharp and territorial. Both unnerve Veronica, but the two teens seem nice enough, and Archie even offers her a seat. Veronica plays off her intuition as new-girl anxiety. 

Later, the quiet humming of the car's engine that Veronica's sitting in nearly lulls her to sleep. Her eyelids are drooping. She's almost asleep when for a split second, Veronica catches sight of a boy with a bullet in his face in the reflection of the window, and she's shocked awake. 

She turns to look at the seat next to her, but when her vision clears, the boy is gone. 

 

Veronica doesn't go to sleep easily that night, but she supposes that at some point she lost consciousness because all too soon she's awoken by the blaring of her alarm. 

Riverdale is a lot less threatening in the daylight, the dark corners from before now illuminated by the sun put her mind at ease. She meets up with Betty at the front entrance of the school, and her tour begins. 

"Riverdale High first opened up its doors in 1941, but the town has been around for centuries before that–" 

"And hasn't been redecorated, apparently," Veronica can't help herself from commenting. 

"Be careful when you diss the town, newbie. Some people are very attached to this place," a boy replies, beginning to walk in step with her and Betty. 

"It's almost like some of them have been here since the start." 

Betty glares at him then, but he just smiles toothily. His smile was probably supposed to come off as innocent with boyish charm, but Veronica gets a more sinister notion. His teeth are extremely sharp, unnaturally so. 

She can't help but stare, and when he catches her gaze, he winks teasingly. 

"Veronica Lodge, Kevin Keller," Betty introduces. "Kevin is–" 

"Gay, thank God. Let's be best friends." Veronica extends her hand to Kevin and he happily takes it to shake. 

"Is it true what they say about your dad?" Kevin asks, and the air grows tense.

Veronica loses her smile, crossing her arms as she stares at her two new friends. Kevin's sharp grin is absent now as he realizes his mistake. 

"That he's the devil incarnate?" Veronica knows her father was doing some shady activities behind the scenes, some people would call it witchcraft. But she doesn't believe in magic, or in the supernatural. Her parents weren't in a cult, and they didn't worship Satan, but the rumors in New York became too suffocating to stay. 

"Does everyone here know?" Veronica asks, and Betty guiltily nods. 

"It's a small town," she mumbles. Veronica sighs. She longs to change the subject, and finds the perfect opportunity to do so when she catches sight of Archie Andrews down the hall. 

"There's the hottie we were with last night," she whispers. "The red-headed Ansel Elgort. Is he your boyfriend?" 

Betty and Kevin both answer at once. "No we're just friends." "–he's straight." Veronica smirks.

"In that case, mind putting in a word? I've tried every flavor of boy except orange." 

Kevin looks at her seriously when he says, "Heads up, Veronica, Archie is off-limits. He's not the kind of guy you'd like to be alone with."

She furrows her brows, because Archie doesn't seem the type to be a bad person. Or to take advantage of someone. 

"He's a nice guy, but, he's better with a group," Betty clarifies. 

"Then ask him to the semi-formal. We can all go together."

"She should, but I heard it's getting cancelled. Because of what happened to Jason. They're gonna tell us at the assembly." 

"Who's Jason and what happened to him?" Veronica asks, and she's starting to realize how out of the loop this town has left her. 

"Jason Blossom went missing this summer at Sweetwater River. People are pretty sure he's dead. His sister, Cheryl, is the most torn up about it though. If she had it her way, school would be cancelled all together just to find him," Betty explains. 

Kevin's eyes light up as he starts to talk. "I think somebody's hunting down the gingers. They're a dying breed you know, but that's probably because they're all v–" Before he can finish though, Betty says, "Kevin don't you have a fur coat to go hide or something?" 

"It's called a pelt, and that myth is a dirty lie!" Kevin calls when the bell signals first period. 

"Yeah, yeah! We have to get to class." Betty links arms with Veronica, and with a strength unexpected from such a petite girl, she pulls Veronica with her down the hall and away from Kevin. 

 

The assembly is during third period. The lights are dull; the colors of the walls make Veronica tired. There's not a lot of school pep in this place, despite the town sign. Hundreds of voices echo around the room as people chatter with their friends while they wait for the assembly to begin. 

The sound of the microphone switching on silences the crowd. There's a thin girl standing at the podium in the center of the gym. All Veronica can make out from where she sits is the porcelain skin and bright locks of red hair. The girl's face is obscured with a short black veil to match her equally dark outfit.

She knows this is Cheryl Blossom.

"Thank you for that moment of silence. Many of you were lucky enough to have known my brother personally. Each and every one of you meant the world to Jason." Someone snickers in the stands, but stops abruptly at Cheryl's glare. Veronica's shocked that Cheryl was able to pinpoint the voice so easily.

"Wherever Jason may be, he wouldn't want us to spend the year mourning. Jason would want us to move on. Which is why I've asked the school board not to cancel the semi formal." Anything Cheryl says after that is lost in the cheers of the students, and everyone starts jumping while others file out. It's the shortest assembly Veronica's ever been to.

 

After that, the day passes mundanely. Every now and then there's a questionable teen eyeing Veronica, but she chalks that up to being new. 

Lunch comes around, and she, Betty, Archie, and Kevin sit outside in a grassy courtyard with plastic tables scattered in no particular order. Dying blossoms hang in the trees above like old bones, and long shadows dance in the dewy grass. The sunlight from earlier has since been muted by greying clouds. 

As they get settled, Veronica takes note of how the town never ceases to be encased by low hanging fog. 

Archie's playing his guitar while everyone else eats the food from the cafeteria. He's the only one in the group that doesn't have a food tray, only a white foam cup that one could get at a fast food restaurant. 

Veronica's taken a keen interest in her phone as a way to get past the silence of the group, but her attention is suddenly drawn by Betty when the blonde lightly taps her fingernails against the plastic table. 

Archie stops playing for a moment and catches her line of sight. Veronica follows his gaze, and sees Cheryl strutting towards them. 

"Uh, I've got to go talk to one of my teachers about a project. I'll....see you." Archie stands, and walks away hastily in the opposite direction of the other ginger.

Cheryl comes to a stop at their table, her lips glistening and her eyes like deep charcoal. Veronica tries not to look to deeply, afraid of getting lost. 

"Veronica Lodge," Cheryl says as a way of greeting. "I've heard whisperings. I'm Cheryl Blossom, may I sit?" Cheryl stares at Betty expectantly, and then takes a seat as the blonde girl slides over. She wrinkles her nose when she sits, as if a foul smell was tainting the air. 

"I couldn't help but notice how bored you all looked, sitting there with no purpose other than listening to Archie's less than average musician skills. I just had to come over and say hello." 

"What is it that you want, Cheryl?" Betty inquires, eager to get to the point.

"I want Veronica to try out for cheerleading. I'm senior captain of the River Vixens," Cheryl says, she flips her hair and sneers at Betty. 

"Is cheerleading still a thing?" Kevin asks, his dagger-like teeth practically glistening. If the sun had been out, the reflection would have blinded Veronica. 

"Is being the Gay Best Friend still a thing?" Cheryl retorts. "You smell like fish." Kevin frowns at that. 

"Anyway, some people say cheerleading is retro, I say it's eternal and iconic." 

"Only if Betty tries out too," Veronica insists. 

"Of course! Anyone's welcome to try out, but Betty's already got so much on her plate right now, and being a Vixen is kind of a full-time thing." Cheryl stares disdainfully at Betty's plate of meat before looking back at Veronica and grabbing her hands. 

Her hands are like ice. "I truly hope you consider my offer." Cheryl grins, and Veronica isn't sure what to say next. 

But then the sun starts to emerge from the clouds and Cheryl starts to make her way into the building. There are a few other students who follow her, all of them just as pale. Veronica guesses it's because they're skin is more likely to burn. 

Veronica looks at Betty, whose face is unreadable. "Hate on cheerleading all you want, Betty, but–" 

"I'd love to try out for cheerleading. But last year, when I tried out, Cheryl said I smelled like wet dog." 

"Cheryl doesn't let people like Betty onto her squad, which, is total prejudice," Kevin comments. Veronica is once again confused by Kevin's strange comments. She's starting to learn how to shake them off.

"Well we'll just have to convince her then." Veronica isn't going to stand down, and Betty seems to recognize this. 

"Fine. But when she rejects us don't be surprised." Betty goes back to her lunch, and that's the end of that conversation. Veronica doesn't push it.

 

They try out for cheerleading. Betty gets rejected, and Veronica almost wrings Cheryl's neck. But she settles for intimidating Cheryl into taking them both, and swears that Cheryl's eyes turn red. 

"Is Cheryl possessed by the devil?" Veronica asks Betty later, as they're walking the track. The football players are on the field practicing, and Veronica's impressed at how vicious they all are. She pities the teams that go against them.

Betty laughs shortly. "If she were, then everything in this town would be so much simpler."

Archie spots them and stops to say hello. Veronica takes initiative and asks him out to the semi formal for Betty. Archie agrees, but Betty looks worried.

"Relax, B. You're going to have the time of your life tonight," Veronica tells her friend. "No need to thank me."

Betty doesn't. 

 

It takes quite a bit of convincing on Veronica's part for her mother to allow her out of the house that night. Veronica promises to be careful, not to go off alone, the usual. Eventually, her mom sighs in defeat. 

They both know that Veronica would've snuck out anyway. 

The dance is nothing short of gorgeous, a little haunting, even. The gym is illuminated in dark purples and blues, and silver streamers hang from the ceiling along with banners of a ginger boy.

Veronica stares at the banners curiously for a bit, for she knows his face but can't place it. Betty tells her that the boy is Jason, Cheryl's twin brother. But Veronica feels as if she knows him from somewhere else.

She gets distracted by Kevin pulling her onto the dance floor, and for a few hours Veronica forgets all of her reservations about the town. Instead, she enjoys the moment and laughs with her friends.

At some point Cheryl invites all of them to her after party, and Veronica is so full of adrenaline she doesn't notice Cheryl's smirk or Betty's concern. She promises Cheryl that they'll be there. 

That's where it all starts to go wrong. 

 

For a crowded room, the whole place sort of feels dead. It reminds Veronica of a funeral. No one is speaking, and everyone looks like someone just ran over their dog. Betty sits next to her, clutching her arm tightly and shifting on the couch uncomfortably. 

Veronica starts to regret showing up.

The room is dark, only lit by a fire place and a few dying light bulbs. Despite the fire, Veronica feels chills crawl up and down her spine. 

_Run._ Something tells her, and it's sounds so clear that Veronica turns to see if someone had just whispered in her ear. But there's nothing behind her. For some odd reason, maple syrup fills her nostrils. 

Cheryl breaks the silence by placing a glass bottle on the coffee table. 

"We're going old school, tonight. Seven minutes in Heaven." Some people perk up at her words, but Betty starts to shake minutely. Veronica squeezes her hand in an attempt to calm the blonde.

Cheryl votes on Archie to be the first one to play the game, and there's a wicked smile dancing across her face as she spins the bottle. 

Veronica feels a creeping sense of doom as the bottle comes to a slow stop on her. 

"Clearly it's pointing to the new girl," Cheryl declares, licking her lips.

Betty's hands are like an iron cuff around Veronica's arm. She's pretty sure that if she tried to move, her arm would be wrenched out of its socket. 

Veronica remembers Kevin's words from earlier that day. _He's not the kind of guy you'd like to be alone with._

"I'm not doing this," she tells Cheryl. 

"Your choice. But, the rules say that if you don't go, the hostess gets to take your place." People have started to snicker around the room. 

Veronica recalls how Archie had fled like a bat out of hell when Cheryl came sashaying to their table at lunch. She knows that she can't let him suffer being in a small room with her for 7 minutes. 

So she goes inside. Betty begs her not to go, and as the door is shut, she hears Betty pleading with Cheryl to choose someone else. 

"You know he can't stop hi–" that's all she hears before darkness floods the closet, and they're alone. 

She and Archie are silent for a moment. The only sound is Veronica's breathing. She's sure that Archie is breathing too, because people need air to live, but she can't hear it because of her own pulse in her head and the ringing in her ears.

"Betty told me you were dangerous," she finally breaks the silence.

"Did she really?" Archie asks.

"Well, no. But it was implied. Is it true?" 

"I don't know. I don't really think we should do this, Veronica," Archie warns. She doesn't understand what he's so worried about.

And yet, goosebumps on her skin rise and her heart beats faster. It's probably from curiosity, though, and she brushes it off.

She gets closer to Archie, and runs her hands down his arms. She touches his face lightly, and almost flinches back. He's just as cold as Cheryl was when she'd grabbed her hand. 

"Do you not want to kiss me?" She inquires, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Of course I do!" Archie responds. "I just don't know what would happen if I follow through with it." His voice has gotten a bit huskier now. 

Veronica takes this as a good sign.

"Well let's find out." Veronica kisses Archie. Her hands are wrapped around his neck, and he responds in kind by placing his freezing hands on her face. 

He nips at her bottom lip, and she gasps. But she isn't bothered by it. Archie starts to place hard kisses along her jaw, and slowly makes his way down to her neck. 

Veronica feels momentarily scared, but then the emotion is pushed to the side at the feeling of Archie's lips sucking a hickey into her skin. 

She laughs in her head at the mere thought that Betty wouldn't want this with Archie. She wonders if maybe she only said what she did because she didn't want Veronica to go after him. 

The sucking turns to light nibbling, and Veronica giggles. She keeps giggling right up until Archie bites her. Hard enough to break the skin. And he doesn't pull away. 

She's too shocked to scream.

She's not strong enough to push him off. Not like Betty. 

She chokes and she feels Archie's suddenly sharp teeth sink into her. 

In that moment, it becomes all too clear to Veronica just what is wrong with this town. But as her limbs grow heavier and the already dark closet gets dimmer, she understands that she'd figured it out too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay SO, to clear things up:
> 
> Cheryl and Archie are vampires, and Jason was killed for being a vampire. Jason is now a ghost because logic.
> 
>  
> 
> Betty is a werewolf, so are most of the football players aka Reggie and Moose.
> 
>  
> 
> Kevin is a selkie because why not? 
> 
>  
> 
> The Pussycats are witches and psychics.
> 
>  
> 
> Veronica's parents weren't witches but they did practice black magic and moved to Riverdale because they knew that was the only place that they wouldn't be ridiculed.
> 
> AND JUGHEAD IS THE VOICE THAT TOLD VERONICA TO RUN. He was the last human to enter Riverdale before Veronica, and now he's a ghost that warns new people. You can guess what happened to him.

**Author's Note:**

> In case you are wondering: yes. Jason's parents did bury him alive.


End file.
